Daily Archives: January 4, 2017

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a United States federal law passed by Congress in 1996 to help protect the privacy and security of health information. HIPAA applies to:

Toxicology is the study of adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms. General toxicology is typically associated with environmental toxins and poisons such as ethylene glycol, heavy metals, pesticides, and carbon monoxide. However, drugs of abuse (DOA) are usually considered part of the clinical toxicology laboratory’s test menu as they are chemicals that have adverse effects on humans. This course will focus on DOA testing in the clinical laboratory and specifically in the context of pain management.

Therapeutic drug monitoring and pharmacogenomics are both pharmacy-related areas within the clinical laboratory. Although each is considered a sub-discipline within laboratory medicine, the two fields overlap significantly. In this course, we will provide an overview of each of these laboratory sub-disciplines and discuss the utility, rationale, and practice of each one.

All health care providers, including laboratories, could potentially submit erroneous claims for Medicare reimbursement. These billing errors can trigger an investigation. The creation of a voluntary compliance program, using the guidelines provided by the Office of Inspector General (OIG), can assist health care institutions and laboratories to audit themselves, thereby preventing submission of erroneous claims and a possible fraud and abuse investigation.